AMD RX Vega: What Gamers Need to Know

Watch out, Nvidia -- AMD just made 4K gaming more affordable than ever.

The new AMD Radeon RX Vega graphics card is built to deliver the extreme high fidelity and VR-ready power that hardcore gamers crave, all at a starting $399 price tag that won't completely melt your wallet.

Here's everything you need to know about AMD's return to high-end PC gaming.

What is AMD RX Vega?

The AMD RX Vega is a new graphics card build on AMD's "Vega" architecture, which AMD says marks the company's biggest leap in power in years. If terms like "high bandwidth cache" and "next-gen compute units" scare you, just know that Vega is designed to play even the most demanding PC games in rich 4K resolution at a steady 60 frames per second.

RX Vega supports Radeon FreeSync 2, which promises extra-smooth performance and no screen tearing for folks with FreeSync-enabled gaming monitors. There's also the card's slick physical design, which is coated in sturdy aluminum and comes in both air-cooled and liquid-cooled variations to stay cool under pressure no matter your setup.

How much does RX Vega cost?

The starting Vega model is the $399 RX Vega 56, which features 56 compute units to power your high-end gaming experiences. The more powerful RX Vega 64 will run you $499, with a liquid-cooled variation that costs $599.

AMD is also selling various "Radeon packs" that start at $499 and include discounts on Samsung gaming monitors and AMD Ryzen processors. These bundles also get you free copies of Wolfenstein 2 and Prey, so you can immediately start testing out how the latest and greatest games play on the new card.

How does it compare to Nvidia's graphics cards?

According to a Doom benchmark ran by AMD, the RX Vega 64 can pump out framerates than are roughly 10 percent better than what you'd get from an Nvidia GTX 1080. While we'll have to run our own tests to see how they truly stack up, AMD's cards already have a huge price advantage.

Nvidia's highest-end GTX 1080 Ti costs $799, which is $300 more than the starting Vega model. The standard GTX 1080 goes for $549, which is still notably pricier than AMD's option.

When can I buy RX Vega?

All versions of RX Vega are launching on August 14. We're eager to test out AMD's affordable take on 4K gaming for ourselves, so stay tuned for reviews and benchmarks.